Red Bull Ring Practice 2: Hamilton tops day one

NewsDesk 20 June, 2014 3 min read

Lewis Hamilton was comfortably quicker than championship leading Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg on the first day of Free Practice of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, as Formula 1 returned to the country for the first time in 11 years.

The Briton, who is 22 points behind the German after seven races, lapped the Red Bull Ring with a fastest time of 1:09.542 seconds on Super-soft tyres in an afternoon session that stayed dry despite dark clouds overhead.

Rosberg had been quickest in the rain-affected morning session with a best effort of 1:11.295, with Hamilton 0.140 behind, but was a considerable 0.377 slower than the 2008 world champion in Second Practice.

Hamilton has won four races to Rosberg’s two so far this season, but has also suffered two costly retirements through no fault of his own.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, one of just four current drivers to have raced previously at what was formerly the A1 Ring, finished third in both sessions.

Williams again looked strong, with Brazilian Felipe Massa fourth in the morning and Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas filling that position in the afternoon and ensuring that Mercedes powered cars hogged four of the top five spots on the timing screens.

Red Bull’s four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel had a spectacular spin in the morning, but was sixth fastest after lunch, as several drivers ran wide at the fast and scenic circuit in the southern Styrian mountains.

The German, whose mechanics changed the car’s floor after his high-speed spin at the exit to the last corner, was lucky not to clout the barrier at the Red Bull-owned track.

Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo, winner of the previous race in Canada, was 13th and eighth fastest respectively amid intermittent rain and after also having his car’s floor changed.

Sunday’s race will be the first at the renovated track. The circuit one of the shortest on the calendar. (GP247-Reuters)

Austrian Grand Prix, Free Practice 2 – Friday, 20 June 2014

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.542		37
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:09.919	0.377	50
3	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:10.470	0.928	40
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.519	0.977	44
5	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.521	0.979	39
6	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.807	1.265	39
7	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.813	1.271	44
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.920	1.378	36
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.936	1.394	45
10	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:10.972	1.430	39
11	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:10.974	1.432	45
12	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:11.261	1.719	45
13	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:11.296	1.754	36
14	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:11.491	1.949	42
15	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:11.765	2.223	30
16	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:11.806	2.264	42
17	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:11.935	2.393	39
18	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:12.229	2.687	43
19	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:12.262	2.720	46
20	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:12.279	2.737	36
21	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:12.937	3.395	24
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:13.596	4.054	48